Youths kick as gunmen kill 58, burn 82 houses in Plateau

Plateau map

Youths in Plateau State have decried the killing of citizens in attacks by gunmen particularly in the Riyom Local Government Area of the state

Addressing a press conference in Jos, the state capital, on Tuesday, the chairman of the Plateau Youth Council, Riyom branch, Zang Davou, disclosed that a total of 58 persons were killed while 82 houses were burnt down by the attackers in various communities within the council area in the past weeks.

The group described the situation in Riyom as a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with thousands of people displaced, injured, or killed.

It appealed for urgent humanitarian intervention, including relief materials, medical supplies, and psychosocial support.

Also, it urged the government, international community, and human rights organisations to take immediate action to address the crisis, emphasising that the silence on the systematic annihilation of communities in Riyom is “deafening” and called for firm attention, advocacy, and intervention

The youth leader who demanded a massive deployment of security forces, particularly the Nigeria Mobile Police Force to vulnerable communities in Riyom as a way of addressing the issue said, “For over two decades, since 2002, Riyom Local Government Area has been subjected to a relentless and systematic campaign of violence, solely perpetrated and orchestrated by armed Fulani militias.

“This dreaded campaign has been mostly characterised by unprovoked attacks, resulting in the senseless and brutal murder of thousands of our people in cold blood. Our once thriving communities have been reduced to rubble, with properties worth billions of naira utterly destroyed and the very sources of our people’s livelihoods, particularly our farmlands, deliberately annihilated and in some cases rendered completely unproductive. This orchestrated violence has also led to the brazen grabbing of our ancestral lands with no attempts for reversal despite the existence of several legal frameworks to address the same. The marauding activities of these armed militias have continued to dispossess indigenous communities of their heritage and means of survival, displacing several more thousands of our people into lives of destitution and uncertainty. Punch